


Zenith

by brzenskaa



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Blood and Violence, Death Eater Draco Malfoy, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Fifth Year, Hogwarts Fourth Year, Hogwarts Seventh Year, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff Reader, Minor Character Death, Reader-Insert, Redeemed Draco Malfoy, Slow Burn, Top Draco Malfoy, first chapter is long but i promise there will be more, this WILL contain spice, you can change the house tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-07 17:00:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,228
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26921041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brzenskaa/pseuds/brzenskaa
Summary: noun;"The time at which something is most powerful or successful."Throughout your time at Hogwarts, you begin to realize that the world isn't so black and white.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s), Draco Malfoy/Reader
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	1. I: Flesh

**Author's Note:**

> Not me finally getting inspiration to write a reader insert because of tiktok...
> 
> Just a few things up front, the reader is a Hufflepuff because I thoroughly enjoy the headcanon that Slytherins and Hufflepuffs are most compatible with each other. I'm a fool for the whole "opposites attract" trope. A fucking fool. Also, Nogs is the last name the reader will be referenced by. Don't let this turn you away, feel free to change this as you read along, same with the house! (I'll let you know eventually if the house plays essential to the storyline).
> 
> This story starts off in the 4th year at Hogwarts (Goblet of Fire accordingly to the films). Characters will be aged up a little from the original ages that correlate to the school years. (4th: 15-16 5th: 16-17 6th: 17-18 7th: 18-19) I will try my best to incorporate some main story plots, but for the most part the Main Three won't be included for our personal story progression. Also, I will post chapter warnings in the beginning notes. 
> 
> Also, you might recognize some of the side characters I have chosen. I'll most likely be using characters from Hogwarts Mystery to fill in some blanks, because they're still canon characters and deserve love.
> 
> This is a slow burn, friends to lovers (possibly to enemies somewhere in between ;)...) story, so there will be eventual romance/smut. Stick around! I love feedback! And thank you for reading!
> 
> Currently not beta'd. 
> 
> Chapter Warnings: language, very mild violence

“We aren’t lost, are we?” you can’t help but eye the dark, towering trees surrounding you. The darkness here seems otherworldly deep. It’s almost as if it flows out from the distant forest like jet black ink, as if you’d be stained if you were to reach out and touch it. There are several muffled noises you hear but can’t recognize- floating around you with no pinpointable direction. Trudging through the white fog sends a stiff sensation down the length of your back. You’ve heard the stories about the Forbidden Forest; can vaguely remember hoping you’d witness a real unicorn in your first year when you overheard some Gryffindors whispering about it at dinner. 

It’s your fourth year in Hogwarts, and so far you have managed to refrain from your curiosity of the Forbidden Forest. Participating in Hagrid’s Care for Magical Creatures classes (before they had been suspended by the Ministry) had given you brief moments in the forest, during the daytime. It was enough to keep you from sneaking out of the common room in your earlier years, but when Penny Haywood insists on following Andre Egwu to help him study wildlife for a private assignment, you decide you can’t turn down the opportunity. 

“Of course not, we won’t go very far. Walking around too much could ruin our chances of seeing anything,” Andre insists in a matter-of-fact voice, walking ahead of both you and Penny by several feet. You share an unsteady glance with her. She gives you a bright, hopeful smile, and then vaguely makes a gesture towards Egwu that might suggest she is enthralled to be in the middle of the woods with her Ravenclaw crush. With a sheepish smirk you step closer to her to whisper, “-oh, I should leave the two of you alone then?” 

Although your blonde friend feigns a gasp and embarrassingly swats your forearm, you know her intentions. She’s the most popular Hufflepuff in your year and you’ve been friends with her since your first term at Hogwarts. Penny would gawk Andre Egwu on the quidditch fields when he played as a Seeker during your first year. After thinking that had been a silly young crush, you were surprised to come back to Hogwarts for this term to find that Penny was suddenly determined to get to know Egwu. 

This is the first year that you don’t share any classes with Penny, so it’s only fair that you make sure she has a reliable date to keep her company where you’ll be missing (though you doubt she’d get too lonely, considering her popularity). You’ve never understood your friend’s infatuation with a mediocre Seeker from Ravenclaw, but everyone is getting older. If she wants to spend time with him, who are you to deny that? Penny would never drag you along just to be a cover-up for a quick snog- she wouldn’t even dare ask that of you due to her golden morals- but now is where you take matters into your own hands. Besides, you owe her for helping you with potions homework last week. 

“Do you guys mind if I station by myself?” you speak up into the silence to draw Penny and Andre’s attention collectively. Your eyes briefly graze over Penny’s, she looks a little shocked, and then you look to Andre, who shakes his head firmly. 

“No, no splitting up. It’s too dangerous,” the bottom of the hiking stick he’s carrying scrapes against a thick tree root as he begins to walk again. You share a small look of sympathy with your friend before the two of you jog to stay in step with Andre. There’s a small aggravation curling in your stomach and you let out a huff of hot air to let it be known. Knowing it’s useless to argue about safety with a sixth year, and a Ravenclaw at that, you trek behind your friend in silence, taking up the rear. 

A deep, resonating sound of thunder rolls in the distance, and for a moment you think you hear voices somewhere far away. Syllables that you can’t quite make out thrum between the trees. It’s colder now and you adjust your cloak to wrap more tightly around your frame. You are content to ignore the ominous noises until a wisp of air presses past the shell of your ear and your reflexes have you instantly drawing your wand. The dragonheart core nearly burns as your fingers find purchase and you spin on your heels, ready to cast a defensive spell. 

You are greeted with a view of darkness. All of the disruptions you had previously heard thrumming through the woods have stopped. 

“Getting bothered, Nogs?” Andre asks from up ahead. His voice is behind you now as you continue to stare down the length of your wand, searching for any movement. The uncomfortable, frozen feeling returns to your spine, but there’s still nothing to show for it. Maybe you’re being paranoid. “What is it?” you hear Penny ask, her voice wavering a bit.

Finally dropping your stance and tucking away your wand you turn to walk closer to the group. You give a hard look to match the mocking expression Egwu is giving you as you brush past him. 

****

After a few more minutes of hiking over mounds of giant roots and narrowly avoiding the sticky touch of spiderwebs, you nearly have to throw yourself onto the ground to avoid being spotted by someone walking down the path up ahead. You only have a few moments to be thankful you had thought to dress in darker clothes before you have to yank Egwu down by his Portree scarf. Penny is right behind him and quickly crouches. 

“Shh!” you hiss at Egwu as he begins to yell in protest. He obliges, eyebrows furrowed and full of confusion as he silently asks you ‘what the hell was that for?’. You only pierce him with a heavy look and bring an index finger to your lips. That same finger slides through the air to point further up the pathway, revealing a lantern and two dark figures lumbering through the underbrush. 

“Who could possibly be out here in this hour?” Penny very delicately whispers. 

“That’s what they’ll be asking us if we’re caught,” Andre gravely murmurs back. 

“Shh, listen,” you insist, glancing back in the direction of the lantern. 

The silence is nearly deafening, but as the dim light draws closer to the group, you can begin to make out voices, actual voices this time. 

“You bring your father’s coat, like I asked ya?” a deep voice inquires, and instantly you recognize it as Hagrid’s. Thank Merlin. If you were going to run into anyone in the Forbidden Forest after curfew, you’re glad it’s Hagrid. As a former top student in his class, Hagrid has grown a soft spot for you over the years.

“Yeah I brought the cloak... Hagrid- where are we going?” The next voice you hear is timid, definitely familiar, but it’s hard to pinpoint at such a distance. 

“You’ll see soon enough. Pay attention, this is important.” There’s a brief silence after Hagrid speaks, and by now he and whoever he was with have walked far enough along the path that they’ve passed the area of thick ferns and knotgrass where you and your friends are hidden. Their voices are fading now, and after a few moments you can’t even see the lantern anymore. 

You glance around at Andre and Penny, who are giving you the same confused expression you feel on your own features. The three of you sit in silence, peering in the direction Hagrid had disappeared. The noise of thunder and groaning croaks out among the trees again, the same sound you had heard earlier, but now you realize it is more prominent coming from the direction Hagrid had gone. 

“Maybe we should head back. I can’t very well look for acromantulas if there are professors out here…” Egwu’s eyebrows pinch together, and out of the corner of your eye you see Penny rest a comforting hand on his arm. His mention of acromantulas earns a sharp glare from you, which Penny is not spared from it this time. 

“That's what you’re looking for out here!? Why don’t we turn ourselves in now! It’ll at least assure that we aren’t eaten,” anxiety spikes in your chest and you roughly stand up on your feet. You hadn’t thought to ask Penny exactly what creatures the three of you would be looking for, because at the time you were just excited to finally have the willpower to sneak into the forest. 

Andre and Penny quickly scuffle to their feet as you do. You’re already taking hurried steps in the direction of the castle, profusely hoping you had been paying attention well enough to retrace your steps to the school grounds. 

“It’s quite strange,” you hear Andre murmur, mostly to Penny because you're several feet ahead of the both of them. “I thought the stinksap in my pocket would have drawn them out.” He reaches into the pocket of his trousers to retrieve a tiny green vial, full to the brim with a thick liquid. You toss a glance at him over your shoulder, scoffing, “Haven’t you read? Acromantulas are only attracted to... human… flesh…” you have to do a double-take. You thought you caught a glimpse of something falling briskly along the length of a sycamore. Suddenly you’ve stopped your tirade towards the castle and are now staring at the shifting darkness behind Andre and Penny. They don’t seem to notice. 

“I have read. Everything about them, actually, which isn’t much. That’s why I want to study them. Can you imagine how much knowledge we would gain if it were easier to find them?” Andre is speaking in that wistful, annoyingly intelligent dialect of his, and you would have admired his dedication to further wizarding knowledge if you hadn’t just definitely watched something dark fall from the canopy again. 

Penny is hanging off of Andre’s arm now, and you watch as the abyss between two yew trees suddenly shifts. The sound of something brushing along tree bark sends a cold chill to your core. 

“Guys…” you breathe, and suddenly Andre and Penny both realize the sheer terror of your features. You don’t even have to point. They both whip their heads around to look behind them just in time to see spindly, hairy legs shifting through a cloud of low lying fog. “Fuck.” 

****

Your lungs are on fire, and your legs feel like lead, but you don’t stop. You can’t stop, you’re the furthest in the back, making sure your friends can escape ahead of you. Andre is just ahead of you, yelling something about a spell from a book, but you can’t comprehend anything other than the beating of your heart in your ears. 

There’s a flash of light, and it flies just over your shoulder, but you don’t even turn your head. Andre is shooting several quick spells, little balls of light that hiss when they come into contact with the creatures, and if you live through this you think you ought to compliment his aim. You can still hear his voice, loud and panicked, and just ahead you hear the familiar squeak of Penny shouting something as well. 

Running feels endless, until suddenly your hands are splaying out in front of you to part large wild ferns, and then there’s a warmth at your fingertips. It’s only there for a split second before a light, much brighter than what Andre had shot from his wand, bursts past your fingertips and turns to something hot. Orange and red completely drink in your vision and the sudden blinding color makes you trip over your own feet. 

When you feel the cold of the Earth underneath you, you turn your head to face certain death barreling towards you. There are several of them, moving so fast there is only a black blur to follow. Several glittering pairs of eyes shine as the acromantulas crawl over the fern underbrush, but then, abruptly- everything stops. You feel a heat envelope once more, and you stare at the giant beasts as the red and orange glow fully illuminates them. Piercing, tiny screams fill your ears, followed by vocal hissing as- to your utter shock- the acromantulas begin to retreat. Several pairs of legs shuffle against the forest floor and hurriedly crash through shrubbery in an attempt to flee. 

Still on your hands and knees, gasping to catch your breath, you look ahead. 

You can make out the silhouettes of Penny and Egwu against… fire. 

Flames violently lash out into the forest, and now that you’ve managed to regain your hearing, the thunder from earlier is so close it feels as if it were inside your head. A crackling roar breaks through the air, and more fire bursts into the darkness. You are paralyzed in the dirt, staring up at several cages in the clearing the three of you had burst into. Large, scaled bodies slam against the metal confines. 

Dragons… in the Forbidden Forest? 

****

In the haste to escape the scene without getting caught, the three of you fled the clearing, each taking different paths. There had been workers fighting to confine the dragons, and while you’re sure they were too busy dodging flames to have noticed the three of you, you can’t help but feel the looming threat of expulsion hanging over your shoulders. All it would take is for one person to have witnessed the three of you crashing through the Forbidden Forest. 

Supposing you won’t know for sure if you had been seen until the morning when the staff and professors would gather in preparation for the Triwizard Tournament, you tell yourself it’s best to focus on escaping the forest to return to the Hufflepuff common room. You instantly dread the thought of traversing the dark hallways at Hogwarts by yourself. Initially the three of you had conjured a plan efficient in avoiding being caught on your way back to school grounds, but with the unexpected separation, you aren’t convinced all three of you will remain undetected. 

You make your way through the Forbidden Forest with your wand drawn and at your side. Adrenaline is still coursing through your veins, you can tell from the way your wand feels as though it will singe the flesh on your hand. The sensation sobers your mind a smidge- just enough for you to realize that any mental notes you had been making for retracing your steps had vanished in the craze to escape man-eating spiders. 

The forest stretches for miles on all sides of you. Your eyes instinctively glance at the treetops every so often, searching for the very thing you hoped you’d never see again. Distant roars can no longer be heard. Only silence surrounds you apart from the brushing of your cloak against the wild shrubbery. Part of you wants to call out for Penny and Andre, in hopes that they would be close enough to hear you, but your fear of attracting something other than them keeps your mouth shut. 

Silence continues to envelope you for several more minutes before it is broken, and not by you. 

It starts as a faint whisper. There’s a human voice, barely audible, but you can’t make out any of the words. There is a quiet, reptilian-like hiss that feels as though it brushes past your ear, much like earlier when you had first entered the forest. You are anchored still, glancing around, eyes searching every crevice of the dark wood to search for any sign of a presence. You can’t ignore how suddenly cold you are beginning to feel. 

A faint, green light shines through fog in the distance. Your eyes are immediately drawn to it. 

Having no other direction to go, you quickly scuffle towards where the color had faded. You climb over a particularly large knot of tree roots and duck past thorny vines until you are standing at the edge of another clearing. Here, the fog is thick and rolls along the ground like it’s sentient. There’s another brief flash of green, and now you can pinpoint that it’s coming from near a small pond. 

As you approach a fallen tree, the pond’s inky, reflectionless water now in sight, you are forced to quickly duck when you unexpectedly make eye contact with a person who stands in the clearing. Almost instantly a jet of red light cracks into the air, sounding like a whip, and you nearly jump out of your skin when it connects with the log you’ve crouched behind. Bark goes flying into the air, and you have to will yourself to remain absolutely still. 

You hadn’t gotten a long enough look to even see who the person was. What had you possibly walked up on? Better yet, who? 

There’s silence again and you hear no movement from the other side of the fallen tree. Briefly, optimistically, your mind thinks: what if that was Andre or Penny? Perhaps you had startled them. 

“Penny! Egwu, it’s me,” you call out, voice slightly wavering, “it’s just me.” 

Faintly you feel your heart hammering the inside of your chest as you are greeted with nothing but a stagnant quiet again. 

And then, ever so slowly, you see the point of a wand come into view in your peripherals. It rounds the fallen tree, and now you know if it isn’t either one of your friends there’s no way you can get out of the attacker’s sights in time. 

Your eyes slide up the length of the wand to reveal a pale hand that grips it tightly, and now you’re staring up into cold, indifferent, silvery eyes. Platinum hair shines nearly white, even in the darkness.

“Just you, indeed.” Draco Malfoy is staring down at you, his jaw tight and knuckles a pearly color from how tight he’s gripping his wand. He wears a look of disgust, something that you’d only ever caught glimpses of in the Great Hall or passing in the corridors. It feels degrading to have that look of pure repugnance directed at you.

Before you can open your mouth an inch, before you can tighten your grip on your wand or even stand to confront him, he brandishes his wand directly at your chest. 

“Stupefy!” 

There’s an intense red light that drowns your vision before you feel your eyes automatically roll closed.


	2. II: Mercy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is the start of the reader's interactions with Draco. Enjoy!
> 
> Chapter warnings: mild violence (like really mild, just a little tussle)

An immeasurable amount of time passes before you finally start to feel in control of your body again. When you’re able to realize it’s only still dark because you have your eyes closed, you waste no time in attempting to jolt yourself back into consciousness. You had intended for your eyes to fly wide open and immediately seize the answer to all of your questions. Instead, when you open your eyes, you find it very hard to see anything at all. 

There’s a small candle that provides enough light for you to make out your surroundings. It is, in fact, still dark. There’s no sunlight filtering through the windows and from that you know too much time couldn’t have passed. It’s still the same night you snuck out to the Forbidden Forest. You vividly remember the dragons, their fire, the acromantulas whispering an unnerving amount of English words. You remember fumbling through the woods until you stumbled across… 

Malfoy. 

You move to straighten your spine, the realization of what had happened flooding over you. It’s only when you shuffle under the thin cotton sheets of the infirmary bed that you see movement across the way- someone turns their head to look in your direction. The world is still out of focus for you. You haven’t fully recovered from being knocked out, but you can make out not one but two people standing across the way. You squint, trying to see past the edges of what little light the candle at your bedside gives off. 

After settling yourself for a few tortuously long moments you are able to make out the hushed voices. Only snippets of the conversation are audible. 

“...what... expect me to do?”  
“It doesn’t… you will be very…”  
“... part…the Ministry...”  
“To be decided…”

They must be farther away than you thought, because really, you’re having a hard time listening to the conversation. When you move again, an idle wave of your arm looking for your wand, the words come to a halt and you can faintly see blonde hair, and the towering figure of what must be a professor. A gulp instinctively fights down your throat when they both step into the fading light. 

“Miss Nogs.” 

It’s Professor Snape. All you can do is blink as he approaches the end of the bed. Gaining your senses back steadily, you now know you’re definitely in the hospital wing of the castle. Madam Pomfrey is suspiciously absent from your view, but likely not far. 

Frightfully you stare up at the towering, dark-haired man. Thankfully he doesn’t seem to be terribly upset- his face is a mask of indifference and his voice is flat- nothing different from his ordinary mood. However, his next drawling words send your brain into freeflight panic. 

“You do understand the consequence of entering the Forbidden Forest unsupervised and past curfew is to result in immediate suspension from Hogwarts, correct?” His voice is unwavering. 

For some reason your eyes flick away from Snape, only to land on the piercing steel of Draco’s. You feel sick realizing that Malfoy, of all people, is here to witness your expulsion. There’s no emotion in his eyes, so you look away as quickly as you had glanced. You’re not sure why he’s still here. 

You open your mouth to say something- anything- to answer your professor, but nothing audible leaves your tongue. And that’s it, you suppose. You truly have nothing to say. You did know the consequences, and you chose to take the risk, anyway. Unable to speak, you meekly nod to him. 

“Good,” he says, and then swiftly fixates on Draco, who is standing beside him, “and I should suspect you of all students- given your family’s connection with the Ministry- know that unsupervised dueling and the use of offensive spells also is cause for expulsion, correct?”

“I told you already, I found her like that. I didn’t-” bravely, Draco attempts to argue, but is quickly interrupted.

“Do not lie to me, boy.” Snape nearly growls as he rounds on Draco. Fear briefly flashes in those silver eyes and Draco takes a timid step away from Snape. 

You see Draco stiffen and his fists clench at his sides. He nods, grimly, and this time he meets your eyes and stares harshly, as if blaming you for his use of the spell. His ability to cast guilt on you is immaculate. The tautness of his jaw and the cold look he’s giving you makes your chest tighten with anxiety, only to pile atop your other heightened emotions. You are quite close with many Slytherins (your mother was a renowned Slytherin in her days), and you’ve interacted with Draco enough in the past to know that he is the pride of his house and his family. He has a lot more to lose than you. 

Snape continues, “then I suppose you both have learned from your mistakes. I should see you both in detention at the end of the week.”

Tears had begun to fill your vision, but Snape’s words briefly halted them from spilling over your eyelids. You are completely confused by the professor’s leniency. Draco’s expression doesn’t change and now his eyes have fixated on something in a far corner. 

“Both of you are to return to your common rooms immediately. And not one more ounce of trouble from either of you or else you will be expelled…” the venom in Snape’s words makes you wince. “Malfoy, you will escort Miss Nogs. Dismissed.” He all but hisses the last word, gives each of you one last fixating glance, and then with a sweep of his cloak he leaves the hospital wing.

Your stare in the direction Snape had disappeared to as long as you can to avoid confronting with Malfoy. Only the fading sound of Snape’s footsteps can be heard. When you finally have nothing more to stare after, you begrudgingly turn to look at Draco. He meets your eyes again and his lips form a grimace. You can see the anger swirling in his mercury gaze, even through the darkness. He breaks the silence with sharp, biting words, and his head does a little jerk in the direction of the corridor. 

“Come on, then. Get up, you idiot.” 

Numbly you move to slide out of the bed at his command. The tears from earlier had finally broken free at some point during your relief of not getting expelled. You hastily wipe them away with the sleeves of your black robe as you get to your feet. Draco has already started walking, but you stay back a couple paces as you follow him to the corridor.

**** 

The trip through the castle is silent aside from the shuffling of your’s and Draco’s footsteps. Good thing the Hufflepuff common room is only one floor below ground-level from where the hospital wing sits. Your mind is absolutely buzzing with endless thoughts. Why were there caged dragons in the middle of the forest? Did Penny and Andre make it back to school grounds safely? Had they been caught, or worse, had they gotten lost someplace? Who had Hagrid been talking to?

Why was Draco in the Forbidden Forest? 

Your heart beats loudly, nervously at the raising of that question. It eats at you for the entire duration of your escort. Several times your mouth had opened and you had intended to ask him what he had been doing in the clearing by that pond, but each time the words die on your lips and the nauseous feeling in your stomach tells you to stop while you’re ahead. So, instead of prodding, you continue in silence.

At the bottom of the stone stairs, the two of you round the corner to the corridor that is shared by the kitchens and the Hufflepuff common room. When you reach the large still life painting just past the kitchens, Draco halts. 

You take a few steps past him before you slow and turn around, feeling stiff and awkward. Draco hasn’t said anything, isn’t even looking directly at you when you make a point to stop and thank him for the escort. 

“Um, thanks for-”

“Don’t thank me. I’m doing as I was told.” he spat, finally meeting your gaze. He looks more ablaze than he had in the hospital wing, and the urge to apologize is burning intensely at the back of your throat. 

He sharply turns on his heels and begins to stalk away. Those long legs of his have already carried him a good distance down the corridor before you’re finally able to muster some courage. 

“Why were you in the forest?” your voice sounds louder than necessary in the empty corridor. Visibly you see the curve of his shoulders go rigid when he halts again. 

He stands there silent for several moments, and for a second you think he’s going to keep walking without uttering a word. 

“What did you see?” his voice is barely above a whisper, and he hasn’t turned around. You can barely hear him. 

“What?” you ask, confused, at the same volume as before. This was an apparent mistake. Within a split second Draco is turning on his heels again and he is storming towards you. It only takes him a few long strides to shorten the distance he had made between the both of you. He whips his wand out and pointedly jabs it in the direction of your chest, teeth bared. 

“What did you see!?” he hisses dangerously, and you take several fumbling steps backwards until you feel the cold press of a wall behind you. He holds you there, the end of his wand hovering at a short distance. You’re not about to let him get the drop on you again. 

This time you’re able to pull your own wand from the pocket of your robes. That familiar heat soothes the cold, fearful chill running through you and gives you enough courage to brandish your wand back at Draco. You’re pointing it as his chest as well, and where you think you’ve stunned him into surprise, you’re wrong again. 

He’s much faster than you. In a blur, he wordlessly casts a disarming spell, and he uses this window of opportunity to step close. Before you know it, your back is being pushed against his chest and the crook of his arm is wrapped around your throat to restrain you. He’s rough but the movement doesn’t necessarily hurt you. He’s holding you there tightly enough to prevent escape while his other limb presses the tip of his wand to your temple. 

“Legilimens!” he snarls.

An odd sensation instantly takes over your mind. You aren’t staring at the stone wall amidst your struggle anymore, but instead, several memories are flashing through your vision. There’s an uncomfortable feeling on the edge of your consciousness, but you can’t shut it out, and instead you’re left to watch your own memories rapidly shift. Different feelings flush through your body as if you were reliving the moments in an instant- the cold chill of the forest, the heat of the dragon’s fire against your skin, the dull ache as you scratched your palms when you fell to the forest floor, the red jet of light that was cast at you when you stumbled across the pond. The overwhelming sense of dread you felt under Snape’s gaze in the hospital wing returns, lastly followed by the memory of meeting Draco’s eyes in that same moment. The immense guilt takes over your chest once more. 

You aren’t sure how long you stood there watching your own memories. It couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, but you felt as if you had relived the last several hours of your life all over again. The prodding, foreign feeling at the back of your brain withdraws suddenly, and like a door slamming shut, you’re forced out of your memories. 

Your eyes fly open (when had they closed?) and at once your body feels heavy and alien. You stumble forward and brace your hands against the wall in front of you. Draco had let go, and you immediately want to turn to face him. Nausea keeps you from moving too quickly, but you slide your eyes to the side to find him standing there with a weird expression. 

He’s staring at you with the same harsh facade, but something is off. It’s almost as if he’s… shocked? Confused? The only thing that gives it away is the dull look in his eyes and the furrow of his brows. 

“What the hell was that?” you groan, turning your head away in an attempt to stave off another short wave of nausea. Every muscle in your body aches tiredly, as if you hadn’t slept in days. 

Draco doesn’t answer your question. He looks to the floor, as if in contemplation, and to your surprise he is slightly amused when your eyes meet once more. The corners of his lips quirk up ever so slightly. 

“So you were with others in the forest,” he scoffs slightly, and you fix him with a hard look. A few strands of blonde fall across his forehead, disheveled from the tussle. 

“You… saw that?” you feel stupid, asking him out loud, but your mind is still reeling. “How did you do that?” 

Draco continues to stare for a few more moments. The bemusement falls from his face and smooths into that trademark flat, careless expression once more. “Doesn’t matter. I saw everything I need to.” His voice is harsh, and before you can say anything else he turns and strides down the corridor, disappearing in the direction of the dungeons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you are wondering how Snape knows Draco cast a spell on Nogs- Madam Pomfrey's medical evaluation revealed this information.


	3. Chapter III: The Tournament

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've decided I will occasionally switch to Draco's PoV for some parts of the story. I'm so bad at updating regularly... But I swear I'm still working on this story. Hang in there! This chapter is a little short but I'll have the next one out soon to make up for it. 
> 
> Chapter warnings: mild violence, swearing

When Draco retires to the four-poster bed waiting for him in the Slytherin dorms, he finds it hard to fall asleep. 

He stares up at the ceiling for what feels like hours. Tosses and turns. He can’t stop the memories from flashing through his mind– her memories. He had never actually performed Legilimency on anyone before. It had been his first time casting it on someone, despite being coerhersed into incantation practice by his aunt during semester holidays. There was no choice in the matter, however. She had seen him in the Forbidden Forest– but thankfully nothing else. She hadn’t seen him practicing the curse. Hadn’t seen the slow coil of clouds that had started to conjure in the air in front of him, floating between the ground and the treeline. 

Her interruption had completely broken his concentration. The curse singed his throat as the words had died on his tongue and it tasted like hot metal. He can remember the displeasure in _His_ voice– a shrill hiss at the back of his mind. Had he just imagined it? He couldn’t be so sure. 

The memories and feelings flitted through his vision each time his eyelids drooped. He could feel her ridiculous guilt when she met his eyes through the dark in the hospital wing– _Hufflepuffs_ and their strong emotions. That alone was enough to repulse him from ever performing Legilimens on a Hufflepuff ever again. It was an uncomfortably vulnerable feeling. 

It’s nearly 4 o’clock before Draco forces himself to perform the counter spell in order to shut the aftermath of her memories out completely. No one had mentioned anything about the lingering effects of performing a Legilimency for the first time. 

Draco closes his eyes and hopes that practicing Occlumency will get rid of what remains.

**** 

It’s a chilly November day, and the wind is pointedly harsher against Draco’s cheeks when he climbs the stands at the Quidditch Pitch. Up here, the air is loud with the conversations and excited murmurs of the crowd. Normally he would find himself seated only in the Slytherin stands, but today marks the first day of the Triwizard Tournament. Students from the other wizarding schools fill the stands, as well as those from other houses. Not intending to be uncomfortable whilst watching his nemesis potentially make a fool of himself in the pitch, Draco of course sits between Crabbe and Goyle, next to a particularly loud group of Gryffindor second-years.

The crowd is on the edge of their seats when the first dragon is introduced- a Swedish Short-Snout, glistening silver even in the shade of the overcast weather. Diggory is the first up, and while Draco is fascinated with the idea that the dragons could actually harm someone, he isn’t pining to see it be Cedric. 

By the end of the next two rounds the stands are _absolutely roaring_ with cheers and howls and excitement. Each of the eggs had been retrieved more promptly than expected– Delacour puts her Welsh Green to sleep with a charm and Krum blinds his Chinese Fireball with a curse– until, finally, all that is left is Harry Potter’s round. 

Draco fends off Goyle’s offer of a chocolate frog with a playful shove, eyes fixated on the rocky crevice of the pitch in anticipation. The crowd had grown still and quiet as they waited for a movement that would initiate the final round of the first task. 

Slowly, Harry creeps out from the entrance, and everyone is looking around desperately for the beast he would face. The boy is hardly five steps into the arena when the rocks near him churn and stiffen– except, the rocks aren’t moving at all. A Hungarian Horntail emerges from its camouflage among the stones and instantly sweeps its tail. The clever slams into a boulder in front of Harry with a crack as loud as thunder, and the entire crowd jolts in fear for a moment. 

Draco scoots forward in his seat as he peers down into the pitch. The dragon is merciless. It hovers to change its position before slamming its tail next to Harry once more, only a hair length from making contact. Again, and again, the dragon throws its club into the stone, sending splinters of chipped rock into the air. Harry slips along the boulders as they break apart underneath him. Everyone in the stands gasps with each impact the dragon's tail makes. 

The dragon lets out a gastric roar, flares the spines all along its hide, and opens its gaping jaws–

And then something gives a hard tug on Draco’s coat sleeve. He tears his eyes away from the pitch just as jets of flame shoot out across the clearing. His eyebrows are furrowed, lips pursed in preparation to reel in Crabbe or Goyle’s foolishness, when he meets a soft gaze instead. It’s Nogs. She had squeezed herself into a seat, promptly forcing Crabbe to scoot farther away in order to make room next to Draco. He hadn’t noticed, but when he turned to look fully, his eyes briefly crossed over a flustered Crabbe in the background. 

“What? What do you want?” Draco stiffens and asks, almost reflexively. He had thought his display in the corridor last night would have been enough to drive Nogs from ever looking in his direction again. It was bad enough that he spent hours trying to rid her memories from his head– what could she possibly want, at a time like this?

“Can I talk to you?” she asks, looking slightly uncomfortable in such close quarters with Crabbe, “alone?” 

Draco simply blinks. For a moment his eyes glance at the pitch again in time to see Harry clamber onto his broom as it whizzes down to the field. “No,” he states bluntly, before turning his complete attention back to the pitch. Pretending he hadn’t been interrupted, Draco winces enthusiastically as he watches Potter swoop down towards the golden egg and miss his window of opportunity to grab it, along with narrowly avoiding the flames on his tail. Almost too quickly for anyone to comprehend, everyone watches as the dragon lunges into the sky and the metal brace around its neck snaps loose from the chain. Draco stares and draws back slightly in his seat, as does the rest of the crowd once it becomes apparent that the dragon was free to roam the sky. 

The Hungarian Horntail thrusts itself into the sky and crashes through a spectator stand, the one in which most of the professors and staff had seated in. On the other side of the pitch, the other stands erupt with enthusiasm. Everyone turns to watch the broomstick and the dragon disappear into the distance. 

When Draco’s own enthusiasm slowly dies at the disappearance of the dragon he turns to look at her again. She’s just sitting there, waiting with her hands in her lap, staring at him intently. His face scrunches up into a bothered expression and his lip curls. 

“Have you got nothing better to do than to bother me?” he steeles his voice to sound mean but her unwavering eyes are making him falter. He hates it.

“Come on, the dragon’s left,” she replies shortly, tugging his sleeve once more. She stands up this time, nearly dragging Draco out of his own seat with her grip on his jacket. He flinches and yanks his arm out of her grip, nearly snarling at her despite complying to follow her through the stand. 

They weave through rows of people who are confused as to whether or not they should dismiss themselves yet. It’s only a few minutes before Draco is being dragged to the underside of the seating, now below the murmuring crowd and out of sight, hidden behind the thick tapestry of the stands. 

“This had better be important,” Draco says sternly once they both do a quick look-over to make sure no one had followed them. He reaches up to adjust the furry hat on his head, pulling it down to further cover his ears. 

He stares down at her intently, watches as her spurt of braveness fades under his scrutinizing gaze. 

“You never answered my question.” she says, tugging her yellow scarf more tightly around her neck and crossing her arms in order to warm her bare hands. 

“What question?” Draco asks lowly, sliding his eyes to look elsewhere. 

“How did you do… that thing? Last night?” 

“As if it’s any of your business,” he hisses, “I’m not wasting anymore of my time with the likes of you, _Hufflepuff_. We’re done here. Drop it.”

Draco turns on his heels, content to walk away and never think about this again, but he’s pulled back abruptly just as his back turns. 

“Stop it!” she shouts, a little too loud. She seems to realize her mistake and quickly lets go of his sleeve again. Draco turns to look at her angrily, suddenly glad that he isn’t as transparent as she is. He sees several emotions flicker through her eyes in a matter of seconds, as if she’s trying to decide how to react. “Stop doing that,” she speaks up again, quieter this time. 

“Stop doing what?” he asks, his voice darker this time. She has no authority to ask him how he can perform legilimency, and it’s none of her business. He had cast it on her, and that’s that. Thanks to his sleepless night, he had plenty of time to mull over what her next actions might be. Prying him for more information was something he predicted she would do, and now is the time for him to shut down her curiosity completely. For his own sake. “Stop being _mean_?” he mocks in a faint voice, continuing as he sees her face scrunch into a hurt look. He takes several steps towards her, slowly, and she steps back. “Maybe _you_ should stop being so fucking nosy. I know it might be hard for your filthy _half-blood_ brain to comprehend magic outside the school books, but it doesn’t mean the rest of us are as _dimwitted_ as you.”

He’s standing close to her now, looming like a shadow over her. Neither of them move for several still, quiet moments. The wind laps at the thick tapestry of the stands and faintly there’s a roar in the distance. Draco takes this as his cue to look over his shoulder, as if he had someplace to be getting to now. He faces her once more to study her and to see that his insults had hit deep enough. She’s still casting her gaze elsewhere, cheeks turning a vibrant scarlet, and that tells him they had. 

Finally, Draco smirks at her quietness. And then he turns on his heels once more, adjusting the coat around his shoulders as he strides towards the stairs. He reaches the tear in the tapestry and is reaching out to part it when she finally speaks up,

“Did your family force you to learn it?” her voice is tight. 

Draco pauses, his arm outstretched. He glances over his shoulder stiffly. She’s looking at him now, eyebrows scrunched and lips drawn into a thin line. Draco grimaces one last time before roughly shoving past the tapestry.


End file.
